


Soft, Like the Moon

by rosegardenlake



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Monsters, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 01:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16187495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosegardenlake/pseuds/rosegardenlake
Summary: Though Pidge fears it, Keith thinks the monster hiding in the closet is probably nothing to be afraid of.  He's quiet, like the night.  His eyes are soft, like the moon.





	Soft, Like the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you [Clari](https://twitter.com/brighteststarus) and [Grim](https://twitter.com/grimkohai) for betaing!!!

They’re just children the first night it happens.

“I saw something,” Pidge whispers to Keith after her mom drops her off at his house.  “It came from my closet in the dead of night.  It was an evil beast with glowing eyes.”

Keith kneels down to inspect her toe as she shows him.  It’s black and blue.  The swelling looks painful.

“I stubbed it running away.  I don’t want to go back.”  Pidge worries at her lip.  “I’m scared.”

“You don’t have to be afraid, Pidge,” Keith says as he stands.  At his belt rests his trusty toy sword.  Carefully, he holds it out to her.  “Take this.  It’s my secret weapon.  When the monster sees the sword and becomes frightened, tell it to come to me.”

“Really?”  Pidge whispers, worry softening from her face as she watches Keith’s resolve.

“Really.”

Pidge and Keith spend all day readying his room.  They tie string across the door and hang several bells to act as an alarm.  They gather all of Keith’s weapons - his glass marbles, his flashlight, and, of course, his favorite toy sword.  They hide them near his bed.

When they’re done, they take a step back and nod to each other, proud of their plan.

“They won’t be bothering us after tonight,” Keith says firmly, hands on his hips.

 

At night, Keith waits, one hand clenched tightly to the hilt of his sword, the other clinging to his flashlight.  His thumb is ready on the button.

“Any moment now,” he whispers to himself, staring with blazing determination through the darkness and into the closet’s open crack.  The bells are in position.  “...Any moment now...”

The wind outside is howling, tossing the wind chimes to and fro; they send a jarring dissonant melody through the air as rain starts to slap against his window.  The closet door seems to get bigger and closer the more Keith stares at it, shadows stretching across the floor and reaching for him.

Any moment now...

Thunder cracks out of nowhere, quaking the earth.  Lightning flashes through his curtains.

The bells chime.  One soft collective sound.

And Keith’s hand begins to tremble on his sword.

Slowly, so slowly Keith thinks his eyes are playing tricks on him, the closet door pushes open, the crack gaping wider.  Keith sees, peering through the darkness, two glowing yellow eyes.  They are like suns glowing through midnight.

A small hesitant hand rests on the edge of the door.  Claws.

Thunder booms across the earth again and Keith squeaks, his earlier determination wooshing out from his chest in one fell swoop.

“Sh-show yourself, beast!”  Keith cries, scrambling for his sword again.  He holds it between two shaking hands.  “You scared my friend!  Prepare to pay!”

It doesn’t move.  It stays there, staring.  Keith can see the light from its eyes blotting out and returning like lamps as it blinks.

“Well?”  Keith demands.

Keith wasn’t sure what kind of voice he was expecting.  Maybe raspy and shallow, pulling long and slow in hisses meant to terrify.  Maybe low and threatening.  What he doesn’t expect is the voice of a boy, as small and scared as a rabbit.  “I-I’m sorry,” the boy says before the hand slips back into the darkness and his eyes blink away.

Keith rushes forward to pull the door wide.

The bells chime.  There’s nothing there.

 

The next night, Keith stares into the darkness, waiting, but nothing moves.  There are no soft glowing eyes, no bells.  Nothing bothers Pidge at night and she’s happy, congratulating and thanking Keith profusely.  Keith just frowns.

It feels wrong somehow.  The voice had been sweet.  The voice had been kind.  Keith feels like he made the wrong choice and he waits to ask.

The next night holds much of the same silence.  And the next, and the next...

The days pass and the disappointment becomes so much that Keith almost gives up hope, no longer staring into the dark all night and losing sleep.  The monster won’t come. It’ll forever be a mystery.

But that night, in Keith’s dreams, he hears the soft familiar jingle of bells.  It’s a nice dream, something he's waited for.  Gently, he comes to, rolling onto his back and rubbing at his eyes groggily.  He wakes happy.

He hears startled footfall.  His eyes flash open.

There, leaning over him only inches away, are those two bright glowing eyes.  They’re so close that if Keith were to reach his hand up, he’d be able to touch his face.

It’s the monster.

From the top of his head grows antlers that loom tall and menacing, strings and ornaments woven and braided into it.  He is so filled with shadow that he feels like the night itself.

The both of them stay there for a moment, still, stunned by the other.

 _The plan_.  Keith almost forgot.  He snatches up the marbles from his nightstand, tosses them over the floor and then brandishes his sword.

The monster squeaks and takes a reflexive step back, feet immediately caught on the marbles, his arms pinwheeling in desperation.  In one inelegant crash, he slips and lands on his butt.

Keith jumps off his bed and jabs the toy sword down to the monster’s nose.  The monster looks so innocent and scared, like a spooked bunny.  It turns its wide fearful eyes up to Keith.

“A-ahh!”  The monster cries.  “Please don’t kill me!  I wasn’t going to hurt you, I swear!”

“Who are you?”  Keith breathes harshly, poking the dull edge of his wooden blade to the monster’s nose.  “And what do you want?”

“N-Nothing!”  He tenses, gathering his hands close to his chest, pulling away in fright.

Keith stares him down as he shivers.  His skin is like the night sky, emulating the twinkling of the stars up above, glittering in gold as he shifts.  Moonlight pours in through the curtains, making his antlers glow.  The decorations tied in them catch the light and gleam.  Keith’s never seen anything like it.

He's beautiful.

Keith is caught by the sight of him.  He shifts and his voice softens as he murmurs lowly, “You don’t have to be afraid...but state your purpose.”

“I’m-I’m a monster.  I’m supposed to scare children.”

“I’m not scared,” Keith says firmly.  “But you scared my friend.”  Keith pokes his nose again.

“I’m sorry. _Truly_.  It’s not that I want to.  My parents make me do this.  They say it builds character.”

Keith narrows his eyes at him as the monster just sits there beneath his blade, wringing his hands nervously.

“They want me to be a better monster,” he says quietly.  “They say I’m not scary enough.”

“But you have lanterns for eyes,” Keith says.  “You look like part of the night.  What more could they want?”

The monster is quiet.  “My name is Shiro,” he whispers.  “You’re a boy.  You couldn’t understand.  And yet, you’re not afraid.”

“Of course I’m not afraid.”

“...Why?”

Keith pulls the sword back, letting it hang loosely at its side.  “I don’t know.  ...You look like you have kind eyes.”

“Kind eyes?”  Shiro murmurs softly, raising his hand to gently feel the skin there.  His fingers reflect the light.

“Yes.  They’re soft, like the moon.  Sometimes, when I’m lonely, I’ll look up into the night sky and the moon’s always there to cheer me up.  And your eyes...they look like that.”

This seems to surprise the little monster.  The more he watches Keith, the softer he becomes.  “You’re really not afraid...  I wish I could be like you.  Brave, like you.  Fire, like you.  You wanted to protect your friend even though you had no idea what I was.  That's pure courage.  ...How?”

Keith shrugs.  “She needed help.”

“The other monsters at home,” Shiro murmurs lowly, rubbing his arm in shame, “They all think I’m strange.  I don’t like to scare things.  Is that such a bad thing?”

“I don’t think so.”

Shiro smiles, but his eyes look sad.  “No one ever wants to be my friend,” he says on a soft voice so quiet it’s almost lost to the wind outside.

Keith stares for a long moment.  He feels Shiro’s loneliness as if it’s his own.  “...I’ll be your friend.”

Shiro looks up in surprise.  “You will?”

“If you’ll be mine.  And if you promise not to scare Pidge anymore.  That's important.”

Shiro nods eagerly.  “I promise.”

“And I can teach you to be brave if you want.  It’s easy.  Just be yourself.”

“But this is myself,” Shiro shrugs as he crosses his legs and settles his hands in his lap, watching Keith with wide-eyed curiosity.

“Well, maybe if we have some more time.”

“I can come every night.”

“Won’t you get in trouble?  Don’t your parents want you to scare kids?  For character?”

Shiro’s eyes slide down and away hesitantly, “Well...that’s true...”

Keith presses his lips together as he watches him fidget again.  “I won’t tell if you won’t tell.”

Shiro’s responding grin is like the sun.

 

Time passes quickly after that day.

Shiro visits Keith every night.  And though Keith and Shiro have never been good at making friends, somehow it’s easy between the two of them.  It’s less lecturing about courage and more laughing together in the dead of night, both hiding beneath their fort of blankets and shushing each other between giggles.  They read magnificent tales of adventures and wonder, heads ducked under sheets and flashlights glowing almost as brightly as Shiro's eyes.

They find a kindred spirit in the other.

 _We’ll do these things together_ , they promise each other, pointing out the illustrations.   _All of it.  You and me._

Shiro sparkles as the light hits him.  As they get closer, he doesn’t mind when Keith discovers constellations across his flesh, following them with the edges of his fingers.  Touching Shiro is almost as if he’s reaching into the night sky.  He can find galaxies there.

The distance between them closes through the months as they scoot closer and closer beneath their fort.

It’s there, in their pillow fort, hands resting on the cover of a book about romance, that they share their first kiss.  Hesitant lips and warm soft breath pressing and weaving together as one.

“I think I like you,” Shiro breathes against the corner of Keith’s mouth.  And Keith thinks of how much Shiro has changed since they first met and how brave he must’ve grown, because Keith’s been so afraid to say that for so long.  ...But in Shiro’s presence, he finds the courage to whisper it back.

Shiro may be a monster, but he is Keith’s monster.  And Keith is his.

Each night, the bell chimes, and each night, Keith’s waiting for him, flashlight in hand and smile on his lips.  One day, when they're older, they'll have adventures together just as they've read, and Keith can hardly wait.

“This one,” Keith whispers one night, hands feeling across the antlers gently, picking out his favorite charms and gathered strings that twine across them.  Shiro lets him.  “I like this one.”

“These are _mine_ ,” Shiro laughs, snatching up Keith’s hands and kissing at each of his fingers.  “You can’t take a monster’s collection.  My mother won’t even let my father touch hers and they’ve been married for _decades_.”

“Hmm,” Keith chuckles with him, pressing his fingers into each of Shiro’s kisses.  “But I want them.”

Shiro hums, “That’s like me asking for your finger or your ear.  No one does that.”

“You can have them.”

Shiro laughs and Keith smiles warmly as he lets Shiro coax him into a kiss, head pressed into his pillow.

They live like that for years, so much more than content, forgetting that Shiro has spent all this time avoiding the duties his parents have set for him.

But the night of Keith's sixteenth birthday, as Keith waits for Shiro to arrive, the bell doesn’t sing, it crashes.

Shiro bursts in, gasping for air, terror in his eyes.

“They’ve found out,” Shiro gasps as Keith sits up in bed with alarm.  “They know what we’ve been doing!  A monster with a human - it’s unheard of. _I can’t stay_.  If I do now, they’ll come after you.   _Keith_.”

Keith pushes out of his bed and grabs Shiro’s panicking form in his arms.  He holds Shiro tightly, feels his frantic heartbeat against his own chest.  “Then let’s run,” he says.  “We’ll go far away, where no one can find us -”

“Keith, I wish we could, but how could I face you each day if I did?  I’m supposed to be brave, like you.  Remember?  I’ve learned so much since we first met.”  He cups Keith's face in between his hands.  “I love you.  I’ll make this work between us without running.  I'll make it safe for you.  I promise.”

“But -”

“Keith.  I’ve got to go.”

“ _But Shiro_ -!”  Keith holds onto him tighter.

Shiro looks down at the fire of Keith’s eyes, doused and hurt.  There’s worry there, stunned sorrow.

Carefully, Shiro reaches up to his antlers and undoes a golden chain from it, the one Keith always runs his fingers over.  He presses it into Keith’s hands as he leans down, placing a soft kiss to Keith’s mouth.  “This is my favorite one.  This isn’t goodbye.  I’m coming back for it, okay?”

“...Shiro,” Keith murmurs, staring down at it.  He knows how much of a privilege it’s been to touch a piece of Shiro’s collection, let alone be given one.  He just wishes it didn't have to be like this.

“I'll be back.  Believe in me.”

Keith inhales slowly, fingers digging into the necklace.  “You know I do...”

With one last sad smile, Shiro pulls away, their fingers breaking contact.  The bells chime as the door closes, swallowing Shiro into shadow.

Keith watches the crack of the closet.  Slowly, he walks across the room, pulling the door open to peer inside.  No glowing eyes watch back.  He's alone.

 

Years pass.

Keith waits.  He waits...

He graduates.  He waits a bit more.

He goes to college.  He and Pidge set up the string of bells on his closet door in his dorm.

Keith spends a lot of time staring into empty closets, bending down to look beneath beds.  He knows it’s a fruitless effort before he even tries, and still, as the years pass, he finds himself continuing to do it.

Every night, he pulls the curtain back to stare up and out of the window and into the night sky.  He watches the moon and thinks of Shiro.  He feels the necklace’s chain pressing against his chest.  ...But no one comes.

But still, he waits.

He graduates college.  He moves again.  Gets a job.  Pidge helps him set up the string of bells again - it’s tradition - but she looks sad, worried.  Keith spends so much time thinking of Shiro, he’s discarding all his other options.

“Maybe you were dreaming, Keith -” she starts.

“ _No_ ,” he whispers, voice trembling.  “...No.”

But maybe she’s right.  So much time has passed.  It’s been ten years since he’s last seen Shiro.  He had been so young then and he’s an adult now.  It’s time to move on.  It’s _been_ time to move on.

But Keith feels with his heart first and foremost.  He believes in Shiro.  He believes in his promise.

So Keith waits.

He waits for a long, long time.

He waits so long that he becomes too tired to look out at the moon.  Its soft gentle glow just hurts him now.  He hides beneath his covers, the flashlight long forgotten in his closet, curled into a ball and holding his chest.

It’s been so long.  He’s been so lonely.

He remembers how Shiro always longed for courage, the little monster, so afraid.  It’s funny how he had asked Keith for help back then, because look at Keith now, curled up and hiding from the world, too afraid to face hard truths, clinging to the necklace of someone all the signs say is long gone.

Keith wants to believe.

He steels himself and sighs softly, slipping out of his bed and stepping across the floor.  He pulls the curtain back but he forgot - it’s a new moon tonight.  The sky holds his comfort captive.

He stares out at the stars anyway, remembers the feel of Shiro’s skin against his, the way it shimmered like gold whenever it caught the light.  The way constellations painted his flesh, the way Keith could dip into the sky by kissing Shiro’s skin.

He closes his eyes and hangs his head.

Through the hopes and fears that plague him, he thinks he hears it - a familiar, nostalgic sound.  A sound he's longed for.

The chime of bells.  They sing softly, sweetly, as if pushed by the breeze.  ...But there is no breeze.

Keith goes still.

Is he dreaming?

He hears the sound of footfall, slow and sturdy, but no longer hesitant.  He feels the soft cradle of a hand over his clenched fist, of someone brushing their fingers against the vulnerable nape of his neck.  The smell of rain fills the room, sharp and crisp, like stars on a clear night.

Tears begin to roll down Keith’s cheeks.  He’s too afraid to open his eyes.

There's a voice in his ear, familiar, but grown.  It’s deeper.  Richer.  He’s longed to hear it for so long.

Keith lets out a small sob.

“Open your eyes, Keith.  You haven't been afraid all this time, have you?  I made a promise to you...didn't I?”

Through his tears, Keith smiles.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me [here](https://twitter.com/go__begreat) on Twitter! <3


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